by Eric Halloran

Created on: January 18, 2010   Last Updated: January 19, 2010

A friend and I stopped one foggy New England morning to investigate a cacophony of bird noise emanating from some sparse cover along a country road.  About a hundred robins clustered tightly in a small section of scrub brush intertwined with bittersweet vines.  I was puzzling how we could approach within a few yards without flushing the entire flock, when my gaze was attracted by a flash of gray midair to my right, accompanied by a loud 'whack' and explosion of feathers.  I froze: Staring up at me from the ground not more than twenty feet away, with intense red eyes, gray wings partially outstretched to obscure my view of the hapless robin in his talons, was an adult Coopers Hawk.  This event took place over twenty years ago and is as thrilling and vivid in my memory, as if it happened yesterday.

The American Coopers Hawk, Accipiter cooperii, is a member of the predatory birds (hawks, falcons, owls, and eagles) called Accipiters or 'true hawks'.  These birds are characterized by a long tail and short wings, adaptations that help them maneuver through trees in the northern woods where they make their home.  In North America we have three species of Accipiters, the Northern Goshawk - about the size of a chicken; the Coopers Hawk - about the size of a crow; and the Sharp-shinned Hawk - about the size of a blue jay.  These hawks are opportunistic feeders.  Their mood and intensity reflects their hunting style - Accipiters move through the deciduous woods and woodland border areas flying along logging roads and moving from tree to tree.

Their surprising appearance to any prey animal - small birds and mammals - as they come around a tree or emerge from cover can barely register before the victim is set upon.  Accipiters have the ability to focus their energy and ferocity in lightning-fast sprints when they pursue their prey, similar to a cheetah.  The drama is over in seconds - the prey is either taken or has made the safety of cover and the accipiter rests for a minute or two before resuming the more leisurely-paced movement through the woods to happen upon another such opportunity.  The smaller accipiters can hunt on the wing, pursuing a flock of passerines from underneath, pressing until a weaker bird attempts to make cover.  On several occasions, I have seen Coopers Hawks slash through a tightly-balled flock of starlings from above, but the multiplicity of targets in close proximity usually seems to

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